Public Service, Party-State: Teaching, Gender, Power, and Memory in China, 1940s-1980s
This talk presents findings from Dr Lawson’s book-in-progress on the history of teachers in the Nationalist and Communist party-states. The aim of the book project is to combine quantitative analysis of datasets constructed from archival and survey data with qualitative analysis of published narratives to examine historical memory in relation to other types of evidence. The talk will focus on two sets of questions from different chapters. Firstly, what did Nationalist Party membership mean for teachers in the 1940s, and how has this been remembered? Secondly, what are we to make of narratives produced in the 1980s and 90s that suggest that women teachers had a closer relationship to the Maoist party-state of the 1960s and 1970s than men did, even though this is not borne out by any quantitative data?
Dr Joseph Lawson is an historian of nineteenth and twentieth century China. His first book examined inter-group conflict in Southwest China within the context of long-term political and social transformation. This led to an interest in the working of state power at the grassroots, from which his present project on the history teachers and the Nationalist and Communist party-states developed. He is the current Head of History at Newcastle University.
Date:
15 May 2025, 17:00
Venue:
Dickson Poon Building, Canterbury Road OX2 6LU
Venue Details:
Kin-ku Cheng Lecture Theatre (lower ground floor)
Speaker:
Dr Joseph Lawson (Newcastle University)
Organising department:
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Organisers:
Dr Bo-jiun Jing (University of Oxford),
Dr Evelyn Chan (University of Oxford),
Professor Margaret Hillenbrand (University of Oxford),
Professor Denise van der Kamp (University of Oxford),
Professor Henrietta Harrison (University of Oxford),
Dr Chigusa Yamaura (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address:
information@chinese.ox.ac.uk
Host:
Professor Henrietta Harrison (University of Oxford)
Part of:
China Studies Seminar series
Booking required?:
Not required
Cost:
Free
Audience:
Public
Editor:
Clare Orchard
